SXSW film review: 'Steve Jobs: The Man In The Machine'

March 15, 2015 8:51 PM

5
0

Hot on the heels of his riveting Scientology takedown "Going Clear," the ever-prolific Alex Gibney calls the much farther-reaching cult of Apple into question with "Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine," a coolly absorbing, deeply unflattering portrait of the late Silicon Valley entrepreneur that expands, not altogether convincingly, into a meditation on our collective over-reliance on our favorite handheld gadgets.

Once more synthesizing research and reportage into a cinematic essay that makes up in calm analysis what it lacks in fresh revelations, Gibney duly acknowledges Jobs's artistry, innovation and technological showmanship while making plain just how "ruthless, deceitful and cruel" the man could be. By ...